Cite as: 511 U. S. 164 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (1934 Act). 48 Stat. 74, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 77a et seq. (1988 ed. and Supp. IV); 48 Stat. 881, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 78a et seq. (1988 ed. and Supp. IV). The 1933 Act regulates initial distributions of securities, and the 1934 Act for the most part regulates post-distribution trading. Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U. S. 723, 752 (1975). Together, the Acts "embrace a fundamental purpose . . . to substitute a philosophy of full disclosure for the philosophy of caveat emptor." Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States, 406 U. S. 128, 151 (1972) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The 1933 and 1934 Acts create an extensive scheme of civil liability. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may bring administrative actions and injunctive proceedings to enforce a variety of statutory prohibitions. Private plaintiffs may sue under the express private rights of action contained in the Acts. They may also sue under private rights of action we have found to be implied by the terms of §§ 10(b) and 14(a) of the 1934 Act. Superintendent of Ins. of N. Y. v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co., 404 U. S. 6, 13, n. 9 (1971) (§ 10(b)); J. I. Case Co. v. Borak, 377 U. S. 426, 430-435 (1964) (§ 14(a)). This case concerns the most familiar private cause of action: the one we have found to be implied by § 10(b), the general antifraud provision of the 1934 Act. Section 10(b) states:
"It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange—
. . . . . "(b) To use or employ, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security registered on a national securities exchange or any security not so registered, any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in contravention of such rules and regulations as the [SEC] may prescribe." 15 U. S. C. § 78j.
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